View source for DOS

A '''Disc Operating System''' (or DOS) is an early example of a modern computer system designed to run on early versions of a [[Hard Drive]]. A main competitor to [[UNIX]], DOS was co-developed by a number of people, most notably [[IBM]] (DOS), [[Apple]] (Apple-DOS) and [[Microsoft]] (MS-DOS). A console system, early-on it provided little features (intended to be run under a larger system) but as the Personal Computer market grew, more functionality was added. 

== Shells ==
A large number of DOS shells were made over the course of the DOS-boom (so to speak). These can be best compared to Linux's many [[Desktop Environments]].

== Current Status ==
The DOS days are over, and are currently only used by nerds. While no major company continues to provide DOS systems, some [[hackers]] have released and maintained their own DOS-clones, such as [[FreeDOS]].

In the 32-bit versions of [[Windows]] (to this day), a DOS-based terminal can still be accessed through the file known as COMMAND.COM. This exists purely for compatibility reasons that Microsoft needs to keep in for whatever reason.

=== Emulation ===
[http://www.dosbox.com/ DOSBox] is the standard emulation tool for DOS. DOSBox is advanced enough to run [[Windows 3.1]], and will run any DOS game you throw at it.

== External Links ==
[http://toastytech.com/guis/index.html A large assortment of screenshots and other information on DOS shells, provided by a survivor of Web 1.0]


[[Category:Operating systems]]
[[Category:Terms]]